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Pop-up Collective challenges Housing Minister to back Pop-ups

by Melanie Gropler — October 28, 2013

Roger Wade, director of the iconic Boxpark in Shoreditch, said he would offer three months rent-free to the next generation of retailers if the Government would back that up with a business rates exemption. We Are Pop Up, an online marketplace for short-term commercial property, PopUp Britain, the retail arm of national enterprise campaign StartUp Britain and Appear Here support Wade’s call.

Roger Wade has been invited before the Government BIS select committee October, 29 2013, to offer written and oral evidence in support of this proposal. According to this appointment We Are Pop Up has launched an online petition soliciting public support of Roger’s initiative with support of The Backscratchers, Bill Grimsey, Capital Enterprise, Changify, Edible Experiences, Kitchenette, London Pop-ups, NACUE, Shoreditch Works, and Smarta.

Roger Wade said: “The future of pop-ups is to breed the independent retailers of the future who will breathe new life into our high streets all over the country... At the moment tenants are penalised if we open up our property to pop-ups. We challenge the government to give a three month business rates holiday to these future independents and we’ll match it with free rent."

PopUp Britain’s PopUp Report that was published last week concludes that pop-up shops are a training ground for brands that are considering a long-term presence on the high street. The report revealed 82 per cent of online enterprises surveyed see pop-up shops as crucial to the development of long-term success – with more than a third saying they would eventually like to open a permanent shop of their own.

PopUp Britain co-founder Emma Jones said, "there is a huge appetite for popup shops amongst what is a growing population of British-based retail entrepreneurs. The pop-up movement is looking like it is breeding the next independent high street entrepreneurs, who may well be an answer to the woes of the British high street. The Government needs to recognise it’s in all our interests to support the pop-up shop entrepreneur.”

Nicholas Russell, CEO of We Are Pop Up, said “We have over 1,000 businesses ready to go today. We’ve placed over 100 in the last nine months, which is amazing. But it also means that for every business that makes it to the high street, we have at least eight that do not. We need initiatives like Roger Wade’s to work. Business rates and rents are often identified as the largest barriers for these projects. Rents are not adapting to market realities, and then they have to pay rates.”